0 Oops

This was festival week. Therefore, I didn't blog, because festival week is CRAZY. I did work out nearly everyday, and only yesterday did I veer off of my portion control.

Good news: I tried to get into my goal jeans, and they ALMOST buttoned. That is AWESOME, because I set the goal for Christmas, not September. I might surpass my goal, guys! That is so exciting! Even though it's going really well, I'm needing a bit more discipline in my life. My schedule is going to start picking up, and I will need a little more resolve to get through the holidays and family gatherings. So, I'm doing three things that will nourish my mind, body and spirit. here they are:

My 21 day challenge:

I am cutting out the no peanut butter rule, because I don't believe that peanut butter is junk food. It's good fuel. This challenge is going to be hard because we have about 300 ice cream novelties in our freezer right now. Oh geez.

My 60 day challenge:

Read 3 novels, and write 100 pages in my own novel.

My 90 day challenge:

Scary, huh? I don't want to do this... so I'm just... going to. 90 days, everyday but Sundays and special occasions, just like my previous rules.

 My 1 year challenge:

Memorize Colossians in a year from the blog,

I haven't memorized scripture intentionally in a very long time. This will be good for me!

0 Burpee Graduation

I always love the small victories. I saw the recomendation of the exercise "Burpee" on Pinterest about a month ago. Then I saw a beginner burpee. Then I tried the beginner one... it was HARD. I didn't try it again for about a month... until today, and it was EASY. So, I tried a real burpee.. and I did it! I DID IT.

Oh, and if you're in need of a little inspiration or some new exercises, here is my Pinterest board, Healthy.

Food:

Breakfast:
2 small biscuts with gravy
1 banana

Lunch:
About 1.5 cups spaghetti (including marinara and veggies
1 piece garlic french bread

Dinner:
1/3 cup rice
1/2 cup steamed corn
1 baked boneless skinless chicken breast
1 banana
8 ounces coffee

Water:
about 84 ounces

Workout:

Bicycle (:10)

Pass the box (10)

Bicycle (:10)

Twist crunches (5 sets of 10)

Bicycle (:10)

Abdominal Vacuum (:30)

Butterfly Hold (:30)

Standing calf raises (40)

Body weight squat (20)

Belly Twister (60)

Side Raise (60)

Jumping Jacks (40)

Beginner Burpees (2)

Burpees (3)

0 Pump Up the Jams

I am always on the look out for clean workout music. I thought I'd share on here the two playlists I use most often. Most of it is really up beat Christian stuff.

My Grooveshark Playlist
My Youtube Playlist

Both of these run longer than 45 minutes. It's easy to gauge how long I'm working out if I have music playing. Hope this helps someone!

Food:

Breakfast
1.5 cups shredded potatoes
1/3 cup white gravy
1 sausage link
1 strip bacon

Lunch
3/4 cup "Fiesta Rice" (ground beef, rice, corn, salsa)
1 tsp salsa
1 tsp sour cream
1 apple

Snack:
1 carrot
2 small celery slices

Dinner:
1 Tilapia fillet
1/3 cup steamed corn
1 small piece homemade garlic bread

4 Oreos

Water: 102 ounces and still sipping away
Other drinks: 12 ounces coffee


Exercise

3 minutes aerobic step-touch
1 minute aerobic arm reach
60 side kicks
60 in-chair knee raises
40 in-chair leg raises
20 unweighted squats
30 Arabesque
20 inclined mountain climbers
50 twist crunches
20 elevated leg lifts
50 butterfly pulses

Also- hefting laundry all day, and I do the aerobic step-touch while I'm folding... I keep moving on laundry days haha

0 Wetzel Pretzel and Condemnation

I am finding that one of the hardest things for me is not feeling guilty. I know a lot of women use guilt as a driving force in their weight loss. I refuse this. Why? Because I've been there. I've lived for a size, and that is all I lived for. I'm not going back. I am not willing to do anything or give up everything for weight loss, and I think this is good.

But, I'm not saying that satan doesn't attack me in this way. Today, my mom, sister, and I all went to the mall. Let me tell you, it's hard to follow a diet around a pregnant woman. Today, she had a craving for a soft pretzel. All three of us split a small bag of unsalted pretzel bites. I might have had 5 of them at the most, and I walked away from the experience feeling like I had failed.

How do I combat this? For seven years of my life, the feeling of condemnation regarding food plagued me. Then I gave up. I stopped starving myself, but I also stopped caring for myself. Now, as I embark on this process to be a healthy me, I find myself feeling that old condemnation-- even when I don't do anything that could be deserving of it.

 Food:

Breakfast:
1 cup homemade apple-cinnamon oatmeal


Snack
2 slices whole wheat toast w/ 1 serving size Nutella

Lunch:
1/2 my plate was raw veggies-- carrot, celery, and cucumber
1 egg salad sandwich on wheat

Snack:
5 soft pretzel bites

Dinner:
1/2 cup medium shell noodles
1/2 cup meat sauce (marinara)
1 cup steamed mixed veggies

Workout:
I mall-walked for about 2 hours... nothing high-impact today. Putting my nose back to the grindstone tomorrow, though.

0 Entry 2

I feel like I ate more today than I probably should have. There's still tomorrow. I did find some good exercises to incorporate into my workouts, though!

Food Today:

Breakfast:
8 ounces black coffee
1 cup breakfast scramble
1 small apple

Snack:
1 small apple

Lunch:
1.5 cups taco salad
1 large peach

Snack:
5 pretzel rods dipped in Nutella
yet another apple

Dinner:
1.5 cups roasted vegetables
1 serving pot roasted pork (I trimmed the fat off)


About 84 ounces of water
32 ounces of blue gatorade

Work Out:

30- jumping jacks
60- seconds aerobic arm reaches
60- seconds walking in place
60- belly twisters with chair (30 on each side)
60- knee raises in chair (30 on each leg)
60- side kicks (30 on each leg)
5- unweighted squats (knee is still giving me trouble)
50- Butterfly pulse (I love these)
5- 10 second glute bridges
50- Twist crunches
30- sitting toe-touches


I am going to give my legs a rest tomorrow. Might walk on the treadmill, but it's been kind of wigging out lately, so I will probably just skip.

0 Introducing

I have no idea if anyone will ever read this blog, but I feel like I need to write it, if only for myself. I wrote on my other blog about my struggle with weight, and I feel like I need to share my journey to healthy living with anyone that will listen. Hopefully it will help someone who is struggling to get started on their own path. Every one is different. I'm trying my best to form a really subjective, level-headed approach to health and weight loss.

Just to get this started, here are my current stats:

 I am about 5' 5" tall. I don't know my current weight, and I don't plan on buying a scale. If I had to guess according to my last weigh in and how my body has changed since then, I'd say I weigh about 250 lbs. I wear a size 20, but started the year in a 22. My body type is an endomorph. From ages 13-20, I had an eating disorder and practically starved myself to reach my "healthy weight" of 120 lbs. My lowest weight, however, was 170 lbs and a size 12. I got there by eating less than 400 calories a day and exercising religiously. There was no realistic way that my body would have made it to 120 healthily.

Right now, I am trying to meet one realistic goal: to fit into a specific pair of size 18 jeans by Christmas Eve. I work out at least 4 times a week, but never on Sundays. I am currently in a process of figuring out what my real problem areas are. My ultimate goal? To have a body that I love and steward as God would have me.

I would have to say that some of the biggest challenges to me are:
1) Watching what I eat without starving myself. It's amazing how fast the pendulum will swing.
2) Self-discipline (making sure I exercise, not allowing myself to feel guilty or condemned if I screw up or overeat) and pushing myself to do more than is physically uncomfortable.
3) Living in a house where I have no control over the meals that are prepared. My lifestyle is unorthodox, but I will get into that in a different post.

I will be using this as a journal for food and exercise. Here is my exercise and food journal for today:

FOOD:

Breakfast
3/4 cup potatoes with salt and pepper (skillet cooked, no oils)
1 strip bacon
1 small apple

Lunch
1 large Banana
2 small chili egg burritos (8" tortillas)
some green tea that my brother in law infused with ginger root.

Dinner
1 large Peach
About 1 cup homemade pork lo mein

Water- about 70 ounces so far, still sipping away..

My work out:

30- jumping jacks
60- seconds aerobic arm reaches
60- belly twisters with chair (30 on each side)
60- knee raises in chair (hurt my knee on saturday, so I was doing some ROM/pain reduction stuff... 30 on each leg)
60- side kicks (30 on each leg)
5- Plies (I couldn't do these very well, since hurting my knee. Maybe next time.)
2- 25 second Supermans
30- Butterfly pulse (I love these)
4- 10 second glute bridges
40- leg lifts (20 on each leg)
50- Twist crunches
3- 10 second bicycles

That's all for now!

-Jessica